The High and Mighty

The Jakarta Globe reports that The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has loaned $224 million to improve the Java-Bali power grid. The loan, made to the State Power Board (PLN), will increase the standby power much needed by the industrial, commercial and tourism sectors in Bali.

Aruna Wanniachi of the ADB sees a dependable power supply as important to job creation, particularly for low-income groups.

Bali currently has an electrification rate of only 69%.

The loan will finance a 220-kilometer long overhead crossing cable carrying 200 megawatts in power via lines suspended on what the ADB says will be the world’s tallest power pylons across the straits between Java and Bali.

The cost of the project is put at $410 million financed by the loan, $25 million from the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund (AIF), and US$161 million from the central government.

Power is now brought to Bali by two submarine cables carrying 200 megawatts. The number and capacity of undersea cables between Java and Bali will be doubled by 2014 with the addition of two more underwater cables.